James Fitness wants you.

If you’re less than satisfied with your body, personal trainer James Coury says he can help through his new program available through his training business, James Fitness. The “10 Week Body Transformation Challenge” promises to help you lose fat, tone up and teach you about good nutrition.

Program offering’s include: fitness tests and measurements, workouts with Coury, individualized meal plans, nutritional coaching, a 10-week supply of nutritional supplements, 10 ab toning sessions, 24-hour e-mail and phone support, food scale, measuring cups and foam roller.

Program start date is Aug. 13. Cost is $1,200 per person. A $5,000 cash prize will be awarded to the person with the best results. Deadline to enroll is Aug. 12 by 5 p.m. Leave your name and number at 949-232-2007 if you want to sign up.
–Jessica

It’s not very often that a person gets the chance to hear and talk about salmon for over two hours straight. So when opportunity knocked, I just had to let the fish in.

McCormick & Schmick’s in Irvine invited SqueezeOC to a “salmon tour” last night. Judging from the rather elaborate press kit — including ear plugs, a concert-type ticket and VIP wristband — we weren’t really sure what to expect. The event turned out to be a very nice dinner where we got to eat lots of good salmon over three courses, accompanied by a few different wines. We also learned everything we’d need to know about salmon if any of us were ever to make it on Jeopardy.
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Flipped open the Register’s Life section today to good news: Regency Theatres will re-open the shuttered South Coast Village Cinemas to screen art-house movies.

From regencymovies.com:

SOUTH COAST VILLAGE OPENS MARCH 23!

Regency Theatres is pleased to announce the opening of our newest location, the South Coast Village Cinemas on March 23rd! Featuring new high-back love seats and all Dolby Digital sound, this is Orange County’s Premiere Art Cinemas!

The first three movies to be screened are “An Unreasonable Man,” a documentary about Ralph Nader; “Into Great Silence”, a documentary about ascetic Carthusian monks; and “Lonely Hearts,” a movie starring John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto and Laura Dern.

I was sure I’d put on rather than lost weight in time for the Fit Challenge re-measuring. I was quite surprised this morning to find out I lost 4 pounds and a combined 6.75 inches from all over my body. I decreased by body-fat percentage by 2.3 percent.
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Today for crosstraining we enjoyed the break in showers with some Nordic Walking along the beach at Dana Point Harbor. It was almost like being in “Chariots of Fire,” only with less men and sweat.
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We met bright and early at 9 a.m. today at our favorite place — Dana Point Harbor — for another Saturday adventure. Today we’d be busting out the poles.
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Late last year, I joined The Grateful Palate’s Bacon of the Month Club. My welcome kit, consisting of a T-shirt, a plastic pig snout, a handbook and other goodies, arrived on Dec. 9. Last week, my first shipment of bacon finally arrived. Because I was on vacation in January, The Grateful Palate skipped the January delivery and put two months’ worth of bacon in my February delivery. Bacon bonanza!

Husband was so excited he immediately tore open the “Petit Jean Ham Ozark Hickory Smoked Bacon Ham I Am!” and fried up a few strips on the skillet.

Initial tasting thoughts: Impressively thick. Not peppery. Very sweet, medium salty, not too crispy. Reminds me a little of Chinese BBQ pork.
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You don’t realize how painful going up and down stairs is until you’re told to do it a dozen times. I exaggerate, it was more like eight. But it was just as painful.

Today I joined a group of four, plus personal trainer/slave driver Elaine Reeves Gjonovich, at Dana Point Harbor for our weekly cross-training workout. It was like 10 times harder than cross-training a couple of weeks back and an excellent workout.
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Laila is in transition. She is slowly accepting that her chicken breast/brown rice/almonds/oatmeal diet may be coming to an end. The truth hurts.

But good news is we’re both still exercising pretty regularly.
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No weight-loss regimen is complete without paying a visit to the father of pep, Richard Simmons. Our group met early Saturday morning in San Clemente for a carpool/caravan up to Slimmons Studio in Beverly Hills. Laila and I were none too happy about having to get up about the time roosters crow on a weekend, but the trip proved worth it.
(Click here to a video interview with Richard.)
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